Roy Greenhilt
Roy Greenhilt is a 29-year-old fighter, and the leader of the Order of the Stick. While his teammates often frustrate him to no end, Roy is nevertheless committed into turning them into an effective fighting force to stop Xykon. Biography Background Roy was the son and oldest child of Sara and Eugene Greenhilt, and the older brother of his brother Eric and his sister, Julia. Eugene was a highly accomplished illusionist who wished for his son to follow in his footsteps and enroll in Mage College. When Roy's brother Eric was three, his father conducted a magical experiment, and Roy warned his father about it being too dangerous. The experiment exploded, and this resulted in Eric's death, which caused a extreme strain in Roy's and his father's relationship as he blamed Eugene for his death. Eugene apparently missed Roy's 7th grade school play, claiming that he was on the Astral Plane for business,Comic 291, "Not to Mention Little League" and missed Roy's soccer game, claiming that he was on the Elemental Plane of Water for business.On the Origin of PCs Roy, however, had other ideas. Inspired by tales of his grandfather and the Greatsword that he wielded, he enrolled in Bash University (Bash U), a college for those intending to become fighters. Roy, being highly studious, found himself to be something of a social outcast, as a result of his high Intelligence. During his time at the College he was harassed by other college mates and learned the advantage of surprise. Three years of study went by, and while studying in the library for a test on Attacks of Opportunity, he was surprised to receive a visit from his father, who had disowned him when he chose the fighter's path. Eugene explained to his son that he was dying of old age and that Roy and his younger sister Julia would inherit a blood oath of vengeance that he had sworn against the sorcerer Xykon, who had slain Eugene's mentor many years earlier. Despite his father's firm belief that Roy, as a lowly fighter, would be incapable of facing Xykon (now having become a Lich) successfully, Roy swore to continue his father's quest to destroy the sorcerer. Shortly after his father's death some years later, Roy graduated from college with an MBA (Master of Battle Administration). On the Origin of PCs Pre-Order Adventuring After college, Roy decided that he needed to gain some levels before starting his quest to destroy Xykon and so signed up with an adventuring party that were on a quest to eliminate a group of orcs who had been causing problems in a nearby town. One of the other members of the party was a surly dwarven cleric by the name of Durkon Thundershield, whose attitude made him generally disliked by the other members of the group. Sent on a mission with Durkon by the other members of the party, who made it quite clear that they'd be more than happy if Durkon failed to return, Roy saved his compatriot's life by throwing himself into the path of an attack meant for Durkon. Fending off the attack, Roy realised that the orcs were not there to cause trouble, but were waiting for a forthcoming rock concert and it was the natural distrust of orcs by the townspeople that was causing the problems. Roy came to an agreement with the orcs, allowing them to stay for the concert on the provision that they moved on afterwards. Facing the disagreement of the rest of the party, who failed to understand why Roy wasted time negotiating with the orcs rather than simply killing them, as adventurers, in their opinion, were supposed to do, Roy left in disgust, telling them that he would never kill somebody simply because it was more convenient than talking to them. Durkon went after him, telling Roy that he was the first human he'd ever met who chose to use his head when faced with a choice between thinking and violence and that in saving his life, Roy was also the first non-dwarf who had ever cared about him. Durkon then told him that, if Roy ever formed his own party, that he would be part of it. Realizing that the time had come, Roy, with Durkon's assistance, then spent the next couple of years seeking out information about Xykon, ultimately gaining the location of the lich's lair from an oracle. After hearing details of the likely opposition, Roy and Durkon came to the conclusion that they would need more assistance if they were to defeat Xykon. Forming the Order Roy and Durkon separated to look for willing allies. Roy initially tried approaching adventurers in the street, only to be immediately rebuffed. A chance encounter with a passing bard named Elan, who was familiar with genre conventions, put him straight. Elan assisted Roy in disguising himself as a stereotypical 'mysterious stranger' and told him to sit in the corner of a tavern and stare into his drink. Despite feeling utterly ridiculous, Roy complied and was shocked to discover a multitude of adventurers waiting to talk to him when he finally looked up. Explaining the task ahead of him, Roy was turned down almost immediately by the vast majority of the applicants, but three showed interest: A rogue named Haley Starshine, a high elven wizard by the name of Vaarsuvius and a highly confrontational halfling ranger named Belkar Bitterleaf. He gave the final position in the party to Elan, as thanks for his assistance. After some debate among the party as to what name they should adopt, Roy finally made the irritated and entirely frivolous suggestion that they should be called "The Order of the Stick," purely because they happened to be passing a stick lying on the ground at the time. To his chagrin, this was met with considerable approval among the party . After their initial encounter with a small group of kobolds went badly, Roy gave serious thought to disbanding the party immediately, but was talked out of it by Durkon, who pointed out that he and Roy hadn't got on when they first met either. He suggested that Roy might be exactly the sort of strong leader that they needed to get them to work as a team. Despite great misgivings, Roy agreed to give it a chance. Dungeon Crawlin' Fools Arriving at Xykon's lair, the Dungeon of Dorukan in the Redmountain Hills, the Order made their way through level by level, fighting their way past goblins, ninjas and various other creatures. Roy was also visited en route by the ghost of his father, who provided him with a prophecy that, in traditional fashion, was almost completely impenetrable until the right moment. They also encountered the Linear Guild for the first time, an evil group made up of opposites of their own team, led by Elan's highly intelligent and evil brother, Nale. The two groups ultimately fought, with the Order coming out on top, at least in part due to Roy's abrupt realisation about his father's prophecy. Some of the Guild escaped, one was slain and the two captives, Nale and his half-orc fighter companion, Thog, were taken to prison by Celia, a sylph who had fallen foul of the Guild. Celia also showed the Order a way down into the lower levels of the dungeon, saving them considerable time and effort. Roy finally came face-to-face with Xykon, who almost immediately shattered his greatsword. Enraged, Roy lifted Xykon and threw the lich into a mysterious gate located in the bottom level of the dungeon. Xykon's body was destroyed by the gate's energies. The castle and underlying dungeon was destroyed shortly afterwards when Elan set off a self-destruct system that had been built in by their constructor, Dorukan. All the Order escaped unharmed, despite Elan's insistence on the theatrics required by the event putting both himself and Roy a little bit closer to the blast than Roy felt entirely safe with. Believing Xykon destroyed, Roy considered it a victory, taking a crown from the lich's head and wearing it as a necklace. No Cure for the Paladin Blues Restocking and resupplying The Order returned to town, where they addressed such matters as the division of the treasure, level-rises due to experience for completing their quest and so forth. To his slight disgust, Roy ended up with a bag of tricks, which he regarded as an utterly useless magic item, although he was later to find the occasional use for it. Roy also looked into the matter of getting his sword reforged, only to be told by the dwarven blacksmith (unknown to Roy, Sabine of the Linear Guild in disguise) that his sword was made of starmetal and a new supply would be needed to reforge it. The smith told him of a place where a meteorite had fallen a century earlier, which would contain the metal that he needed. Cursing the necessity of side-quests, Roy assembled the rest of the party, convinced them to help out (their original contracts with him had expired with the fall of Xykon) and set out. After various misadventures, including tangling with bandits, a hag who turned Vaarsuvius into a lizard, and a dragon, they recovered a substantial hoard of loot, plus the starmetal meteorite, which turned out to be a nugget smaller than a fist. Azure City .]] En route back to town, Roy and his party were accosted by Miko Miyazaki, a paladin of the Sapphire Guard of Azure City, who had come to arrest them for crimes against existence, namely Elan's destruction of the gate in Dorukan's Dungeon. Prompted at least in part by his general weakness for attractive women, Roy agreed to comply and persuaded his teammates to do likewise. There were several setbacks en route, most notably a series of misadventures at an inn along the route, which included Roy being temporarily hailed as the King of Nowhere, the total destruction of said inn, the loss of practically all of their loot, Roy spending an amount of time as an attractive (if still bald) woman courtesy of a Girdle of Feminity/Masculinity (which made Belkar pretend to fancy him) that Elan had taken from an ogre slain by the Order, and Haley losing her speech as the result of losing the treasure. As a result of his actions, he apologized to Miko for seeing her as a sex object, an apology which Miko accepted, feeling that it showed off a new maturity and telling him that she would be more considerate of the possibility of a romantic relationship. Roy, on the other hand, had seen a different side to Miko and rejected her outright telling her that, despite her Lawful Good alignment, she was far from any definition of good that he recognised and that he refused to accompany her to Azure City. Unfortunately, this resulted in the Order being dragged there in chains. Reaching Azure City, the Order were put on trial for their actions, with Celia the Sylph acting as their legal representative. During the course of the trial, they learned about the nature of the gate that Elan destroyed, that there were others, including one in Azure City itself, about the individuals who set them up and about the Snarl which was kept at bay by the gates. They were found not guilty, and the trial was revealed to have largely been a sham orchestrated by Lord Shojo of Azure City and the ghost of Roy's father, with the purpose of bringing the Order to Azure City. Eugene then revealed that Xykon had survived because of his phylactery, and the Order was asked to investigate the other gates. War and XPs Azurite New Year, the Sunken Valley and the Linear Guild Spending New Year in Azure City, the Order got some much needed downtime. Roy arranged to have his greatsword reforged — although it turned out not to be made of starmetal, the meteorite that Roy had recovered could be incorporated into the reforged sword, giving it a +5 enchantment. It would also occasionally glow with green energy that would be particularly harmful to the undead, a side-effect that Roy adamantly refused to learn how to counteract. He also went on a date with Celia, which ended with them sleeping together. Celia subsequently gave Roy a talisman which would summon her if it is broken. Revisiting the Oracle of Sunken Valley to redetermine where Xykon would be found, Roy's intelligence got the better of him, as his question specifically eliminated the Azure City gate as being Xykon's next target, despite it being where the lich is heading next. Shortly afterwards, however, before they could move to investigate what the Oracle had told them, Roy was contacted by Nale, telling him that the Linear Guild had kidnapped Roy's sister Julia and were holding her hostage. Roy led the Order to rescue her from her captors. This done, Roy returned to Azure City to resume their quest. After a night of rest for him (during which his party not only defeated the Linear Guild, but Haley regained her speech and resolved her love for Elan) he went to Lord Shojo's throneroom with Belkar to discuss the current situation. Unfortunately, their conversation was overheard by Miko Miyazaki and Hinjo, Shojo's nephew, who confronted their leader (Roy sensibly chose to remain quiet). Appalled to learn that Shojo had been manipulating the paladins, Hinjo advocated Shojo's arrest; however Miko, having leapt to the somewhat unlikely conclusion that Shojo and Roy were actually in league with Xykon (based on her previous presumption that the Order were minions of the Lich), immediately pronounced Shojo guilty of treason and executed him on the spot. The gods, however, did not agree with her and—due to her attack on a helpless being—revoked her Paladin status. Roy then attacked Miko in retaliation for killing the Order's main ally. Roy, now in possession of his family's powerful ancestral sword instead of his non-magical greatclub, proved to be more than a match for Miko. She finally surprised him with a kick to the face and attempted to escape. She was stopped by Hinjo, who placed her under arrest. Miko attempted to explain herself, demanding Roy's arrest. Hinjo calmly asked Miko to surrender, but she attacked him, swiftly gaining the upper hand before Roy stepped in and knocked Miko unconscious. When the Clerics were unable to resurrect Shojo, Roy offered his assistance to Hinjo to help with Xykon's impending attack. Hinjo accepted and asked Roy to serve as his bodyguard to fend off the assassins that most assuredly would come for him as the new ruler of Azure City. He also revealed the location of the Azure City Gate - a sapphire embedded in the ruler's throne. Battle of Azure City In the face of Xykon and his hordes' attack, Roy and the rest of the Order were charged by Hinjo to make their way to Xykon during the battle and eliminate him to shift the battle in their favor. When the attack came, Roy and the rest of the Order quickly dealt with several elementals summoned by Redcloak and launched at the battlements. Roy then saved Elan's life from a hail of arrows. Shortly afterward, a new complication arose when it was pointed out that there were three Xykons on the battlefield, rather than the one they had anticipated. Faced with deciding which one was the real one, Roy began formulating a plan to deal with the nearest two Xykons, but was quickly stopped when Haley pointed out that the three Xykons were a con game and none of them was the genuine article. This was confirmed moments later by an errant gust of wind along the battlements; Hinjo's seer Sangwaan quickly used a True Seeing spell and promptly discovered the real Xykon riding an undead dragon steed, under a Greater Invisibility spell, heading straight for the city's central tower and the Gate. With his enchanted sword, Roy was the only one able to damage Xykon, who flew off after being attacked. Roy used Belkar's Ring of Jumping to leap onto the dragon and attack Xykon directly. Roy's anger was swiftly elevated to extreme levels when, as usual, Xykon couldn't remember him, but also when Xykon took his crown back, informing Roy that the reason he'd killed Roy's father's master in the first place was purely because he liked the look of the crown. Xykon pointed out that he's out of Roy's league, and offered to postpone the confrontation and allow Roy to gain a few levels. Roy responded that Xykon was his responsibility and he intended to end this now, attacking Xykon repeatedly. The annoyed lich abandoned his steed using an Overland Flight spell, blasted Roy with a Meteor Swarm spell, and left him to fall to the ground, where he was killed on impact as he was trying to break Celia's amulet.Comic 443, "The First Step is a Doozy" Durkon witnessed his death from the city walls and Haley, acting as leader of the Order of the Stick in Roy's absence, assigned herself the task of retrieving his corpse for resurrection. However, upon getting to the place where Roy died, she and Belkar discover that the body has been taken by the Monster in the Darkness for his tea party. While fleeing with Roy's corpse, Haley accidentally dropped him in a chasm created by an earthquake started by the Monster in the Darkness. In order to halt his descent and retrieve him, Haley was forced to shoot him with an arrow that strikes him in the groin, halting his fall. She then lassos him with the help of Belkar. Don't Split the Party In the Afterlife Upon reaching the Celestial Realms, Roy's soul is greeted by his father, who wastes no time in berating him for failing to defeat Xykon. He also makes it known that upon Roy's death, the Blood Oath to defeat Xykon passed to Julia, and that neither one of them will be able to proceed to the true afterlife until this Blood Oath is fulfilled. Later a Deva was assigned to examine Roy's life to see if he is worthy of entering the Celestial Realms upon the Oath's completion. The Deva notes several of Roy's less-than good acts, particularly his temporary abandonment of Elan to the bandits. She informs him that had he not gone back for Elan, Roy would have been filed as True Neutral. The Deva lets it slide on the grounds that Roy learned his lesson while he was still alive, and later rescued Elan using a Belt of Gender-Change. She also notes his association with Belkar, a.k.a. "Death's Lil' Helper," as a negative part of his life, claiming that as Belkar's commanding officer Roy is partially responsible for any of his actions. Roy reasons that he is channeling Belkar towards the combat of evil and that had he left him in the Azure City jail cell, Belkar would have managed to escape and become a recurring villain. The Deva decides that she will note this as an attempt to redeem an evildoer, after referring to a chart which predicted that without Roy's supervision Belkar would become a greater evil than an offspring of Sauron and Cruella de Vil. After a seemingly long, off-screen conversation (ending in an anecdote about Durkon's accent), the Deva gives her final verdict based on two main criteria: Is Roy good, and is he Lawful? She finds Roy a good man for often fighting the forces of Evil without expecting payment, but she also finds that he often uses Chaotic means to achieve Lawful ends (such as tricking his party to get his sword fixed). .]] However, the Deva notes that though Roy's record isn't perfect, he is continually trying to do better, and that is what counts. She then lets Roy into the Celestial Realm, in spite of the Blood Oath (and to Eugene's great exasperation). Roy shows a considerable lack of sympathy with his father, probably caused by their bad relationship, by mocking Eugene, saying he might trade a stay in Paradise for a picture of the look of frustration and anger on Eugene's face. It is thereafter revealed that Roy was allowed to enter the Celestial Realm because he had died attempting to fulfill the Oath to the best of his abilities (including his ability to judge what was appropriate), whereas Eugene had consciously given up on it many years before and never once made one last attempt to defeat Xykon, preferring to hand responsibility off to his children instead. Upon entering the gates, Roy finds his own personal Archon to guide him through the realm as well as giving him a map that shows him several locations seemingly created to fit his interests, along with his mother's house, where he will be staying temporarily. Roy soon arrived at his mother Sara's house, who appears to him as a 19 year old woman because in the Celestial Realms one appears in the ideal versions of oneself. There Roy tells her how badly he dislikes his father, his mother defends Eugene by saying that he is a single minded man but gets bored easily and attributing his irritable and unpleasant character to the Oath. She also reveals to him that she is having an affair with another man named Enrique. While at Sara's house, Roy meets up again with his younger brother, Eric, who died over eighteen years ago while Sara was away and Eugene was supposed to take care of the boys. His death seems to have been an accident; when Roy says he knows it wasn't his (Roy's) fault, he makes several references to their father Eugene, which may indicate the accident was an incident involving Eugene's magical laboratory. Eric never responded to attempts to resurrect him, according to Roy's theory because the afterlife was very pleasant for him, he did not think to return when called. Roy comments that he sometimes thinks about what class Eric would choose, saying that it was probably bard, hinting that his relationship with Elan is brother-like. Eric has remained a child in the afterlife, but despite the changes time has wrought in Roy, his little brother instantly recognizes him and invites him to play with blocks together; a tearful Roy happily accepts, indicating he cares for Eric very much. Later on Roy meets Horace Greenhilt, his grandfather that he has been attempting to emulate for his life. Soon after an evil adventuring party Plane Shifts into the house, though they are quickly defeated by the Greenhilts. Although Roy is in shock over what had just happened, Horace takes it all in stride then decides to take Roy fishing. However, Roy believed that he was only dead for about 12 hours, but since time apparently flows more slowly in the afterlife, Roy was extremely surprised to find out that he was dead for 103 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes, and 9 seconds (over three months). He panicked at the sound of this. Roy's family and his Archon later tell him that in the Celestial Realms, there are no physical restraints such as hunger, tiredness, or such, leaving Roy to end up spending 8 weeks climbing to his mother's house and 3 weeks building a block castle with Eric while Roy still perceives time as hardly passing. Concerned at why Durkon and Haley haven't resurrected him yet, Roy makes his way to his father, the only one he knows in the afterlife that can see the mortal realm. Roy soon realizes that he is unable to view into the mortal realms by himself, requiring his father to scry for him, who initially rejects him. Accepting that his father won't help him, Roy proceeds to find someone else to help him, telling his father that any sarcastic comments or arguments will not change his father's view and refusing to stoop to Eugene's level once again. Surprised at Roy's lack of anger, Eugene believes Roy to be attempting Reverse psychology, Eugene decides to "play along", commanding Roy to watch as he scry for him, which Roy accepts on the terms that when Eugene finally makes it through the gates, he is not to visit Sara's house ever. Resurrection Concentrating on Durkon first, Roy sees events of the Azure City remnants from Durkon on the fleet of Azure City performing the marriage of Kazumi and Daigo to Daimyo Kubota discussing with his co-conspirators. Learning that the reason that he hasn't been resurrected is that they don't have his body, Roy then later decides to scry on Haley (the magic of the Celestial Realms being powerful enough to bypass the magic blocking Vaarsuvius' attempts at scrying), finding that Redcloak has apparently taken over Azure City as de-facto ruler. Impressed that Haley has managed to raise a rebel group by herself and seeing that Haley has both his sword and corpse, Roy decides to project himself as a ghost through the spiritual connection of the Greenhilt sword, like his father did in order to communicate to Haley. Although he is successful he remains invisible to Haley as well as Celia, who is inadvertently summoned by Haley upon breaking the Talisman that Celia gave Roy, the talisman having not originally broke as it only broke for magical energy, which Roy did not have as well as Celia not knowing that humans are not able to shoot energy out of their fingers. Roy stays and watches Haley until a fortune teller and psychic joins Haley's resistance. After the fortune teller could sense the presence of someone dead being there with their name beginning with the letters R-O-, and it turns out to be someone's dog Rover, Roy returns to Celestial Realms, annoyed and is later seen playing Dungeons & Dragons First Edition with his Archon as part of a tribute to the late Gary Gygax. Roy is still playing when his father informs him that Haley has reached the Oracle. Roy returns to Earth, but is unable to attract the Oracle's attention. He then looks on as Belkar kills the Oracle. Upon the Order and Celia leaving, the Oracle is revived by Lizardmen who he employed ahead of time to revive him and reveals to Roy that he is, in fact, capable of hearing him. Unfortunately, Celia, in a desperate attempt to get him resurrected, took his skeleton to Hieronymus Grubwiggler, a sorcerer specializing in animating golems. Grubwiggler successfully transformed Roy into a bone golem. Celia, Haley and Belkar escaped the sorcerer, but left Roy behind. Haley and Belkar managed to recover Roy's Bone Golem, and reunited with the rest of the Order. Then, Durkon used a huge diamond and started to resurrect him. The resurrection spell is a ritual of 10 minutes long, and as Vaarsuvius was unwilling to wait, they teleported away in an attempt to defeat Xykon alone. Being a spirit, Roy was able to see Vaarsuvius's soul splices, who bluffed him by claiming to be "subcontractors". Roy was unable to convince them to stop Vaarsuvius, and returned to the afterlife. Shortly afterward, as Durkon was completing the resurrection spell, Roy left his Archon with an unknown task and told his father to keep scrying on Xykon to warn him if the lich left Azure City. He then left in a limousine, brushing off a celestial deva's attempt to warn him about the deal with fiends that Vaasurvius had made. Roy mistakenly believed that the deva was referring to Belkar. He then was restored to life, but was naked as the spell did not restore his clothes. After Celia leaps on Roy and kisses him, he wraps Vaarsuvius's cloak around his waist, but then falls over because he forgot that he can no longer fly like he could as a dead spirit. Celia reassures him that she frequently makes the same mistake. Roy shortly caught back up with the rest of his party as well as Lord Hinjo to plan for the next part of the quest to stop Xykon. Haley admitted to Roy in private of the difficulty in leading the adventure party and Celia bid farewell to Roy before returning to her classes. Shortly before Roy and the rest of the Order headed towards Girard's Gate, O-Chul handed Roy a list of Xykon's spell list, feats, and magic items to aid Roy in his battle against Xykon. Blood Runs in the Family Road to Girard's Gate On the road to find Girard's Gate, the Order and a group of pilgrims were attacked by a group of slavers. Roy and the rest of the Order quickly dispatched the slavers. During the battle, Roy leaped onto the back of a giant beetle to battle the slavers. He released the prisoners and fell off the creature prompting Haley to ask Roy if he learned anything since jumping onto the back of Xykon's dragon. Roy replied that he now knows to avoid jumping on the back of a moving creature unless the ground underneath is soft. He received a Belt of Giant Strength from the prisoners, noting that the quest is too urgent to turn down any potentially useful item.Comic 0687, "Actually, That's Probably You" After the party returned onto the road towards Girard's Gate they were attacked by a giant worm which was attracted to the spices Belkar was currently eating. Vaarsuvius subdued the worm using a Charm Monster spell and Roy came up with the idea of dangling Belkar in front of the worm in order to travel faster. Arriving at the coordinates of Girard's gate, the Order began to search for the illusions Girard has placed in the area. However, Vaarsuvius soon discovered a magic message left by Girard revealing that the location was fake in order to trick Soon and the Sapphire Guards. Girard's message revealed that Serini's diary, which is currently with Xykon, contains the true location of Girard's Gate. The message ended with a note to Soon, recorded on the off-chance he arrived in person, revealing that Girard thought that Soon should have been the one to die during the sealing of the last gate instead of Kraagor the Dwarf. The message then set off an explosion spell, persumably added in the hopes of killing Soon. After searching for a while longer in the desert for Girard's gate, hoping that Girard's message was a double bluff, Vaarsuvius noticed a slip in the tounge when Girard refered to the spell notifying Serini and "us". The Order then began searching the nearby desert cities hoping to find a hint of Girard or possibly his allies for aid, leaving a message for Girard in case he scried the decoy location after the spell went off. As the Order left the desert, a scrying spell with a green aura was found staring at the order as they left. The Empire of Blood When the Order of the Stick arrived at Bleedingham, they split up to search for evidence about Girard's Gate. During the split up, Elan (who was mistaken for Nale) was captured by the bounty hunters Gannji and Enor, along with Vaarsuvius and Haley. Roy and Belkar encountered the bounty hunters in a bed and breakfast, who picked a fight with them, which quickly turned into a brawl. When the police arrived, Roy and Belkar were arrested for failure to produce visitation papers. In court, they would plead guilty (at the insistence of their lawyers) and be sentenced to life imprisonment in Bloodstone, which served as the city's gladitorial arena. Roy was contacted by Vaarsuvius via Sending spell, but declined a jailbreak in favor of them taking the opportunity to get any information they could on Draketooth from Elan's father, Tarquin. Coincidently, he and Belkar were placed in the same cell as Haley's father, Ian Starshine. Later on, he would fight in the arena in the games hosted in Elan's honor, in no small part due to the fact that he knocked Belkar down with one blow in full view of the warden and the guards. Placed on top of the list, he was scheduled to fight the reigning champion of the arena, who turned out to be Thog. Though initially against the idea of fighting someone condemned to such a fate, he readily entered the fight after the champion's revelation. In the ensuring fight, he caught a glimpse of Vaarsuvius fighting Zz'dtri and realized it was a Linear Guild ambush, quickly telling Belkar to escape the prison to help and taking one of Ian's health potions. Though he briefly managed to overpower a raging Thog, he was brutalized by the half-orc, who tossed him into the crowd. Thog landed on him, making the two break the stands and fall to the level below, where he used his cross-class skill ranks in Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) to trick Thog in using him as a battering ram, damaging the pillars around them enough to completely wreck the arena making it collapse on top of the barbarian. Though he and Belkar attempted to make themselves scarce, they were intercepted by General Tarquin and his troops, who were greatly impressed by the fight and wanted to offer the pair jobs as bodyguards to his son Elan as they made their way to Girard's Gate. Though they did not know it, Tarquin was well aware that the separated members of the Order were working together and saw it fit to reunite them as well as giving them a means to reach Girard's Gate. Girard's Gate At the pyramid containing Girard's Gate, the Order was ambushed by the newly reconstituted Linear Guild. Roy is bested by Tarquin and leads the Order to retreat into the pyramid. Inside he plans a successful ambush against the Guild which causes them to retreat. At the heart of the pyramid, Roy fails to hear Vaarsuvius' warnings and destroys the Gate with the Greenhilt Sword. It is at this moment that Team Evil arrives on the scene, who quickly leave a Silicon Elemental with instructions to kill Roy, or more specifically, the bearer of the Greenhilt Sword. With Roy and the remnants of the Order (V was missing and Durkon had been turned into a vampire) fighting the elemental in the blast crater left by the Gate, Tarquin returns with his entire army and encircles them. Believing that Roy in an impediment to Elan becoming a true leader, Tarquin orders his army to kill Roy and Belkar. Roy nearly single-handedly holds off the onslaught until Vaarsuvius returns to give aid, and "Durkon"* comes to their aid as well. With Elan and Haley as well, the reunited party escapes from the army astride Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator. "]] Roy and the Order face off against three of the Vector Legion in the desert, Vaarsuvius tells Roy to attack Miron using a code, which was a sign for the Order to go all on out on him. The damage successfully triggers his Contingency spell. However, Laurin lets out a spell that stuns half of the order, which Laurin and Tarquin follows up by incapacitating the entire order, as Roy is the only one to get knocked out temporarily by the spell. Elan attempts to block Tarquin from killing him but Tarquin runs the Greenhilt Sword through him into Roy once he realizes that Elan still has full hit points. Roy may had died (again), were it not for the timely intervention of Julio Scoundrél. Utterly Dwarfed Godsmoot Safe aboard the Mechane, the party heads north, stopping in Tinkertown where Roy meets Wrecan and Veldrina. Roy is convinced by "Durkon" to stop at Pinnacle Peak on the way to Kraagor's Gate, with the promise of having Durkon resurrected. Once at the Godsmoot, Roy accompanies, "Durkon", the High Priest of Hel, as his bodyguard at the Godsmoot. "Durkon" betrays Roy and unveils his plan to destroy the world in order to gain power for Hel. Roy finally realizes that "Durkon" is a threat, and not the real Durkon, fighting him in single combat in the Great Nave of the Northern Godsmoot cathedral. In this fight Roy uses the Spellsplinter Maneuver he learned from his grandfather, and also unlocked new powers from the Greenhilt Sword. Roy bests "Durkon", but the vampire is able to escape using a stolen teleportation sphere, after transferring the High Priest of Hel position to a newly made vampire spawn. As Roy leaves to stop "Durkon"'s plans, Wrecan gives Roy a book on weapons of legacy, which he reveals the Greenhilt Sword to be. Roy practices with the book aboard the Mechane as they travel. Passage Pass While running north through Passage Pass towards Firmament, the Mechane came under assault by a clan of frost giants who wished to thwart the Order's efforts in order to abide by the wishes of their god, Thrym. Roy was largely left out of the combat until the airship was boarded by a trio of powerful frost giant berserkers, two of which he engaged in solo combat, Elan having withdrawn to fix the ship. He killed one of them but lost the Greenhilt Sword overboard when the Mechane hit a ridge top, before he could knock the other giant off the ship with the help of Bandana. Roy was able to retrieve the Greenhilt Sword when he unlocked an additional Legacy power of the sword: the power to teleport it into his hand on command. Firmament Roy arrived in Firmament and used the runestone given to him by High Priestess Rubyrock to locate the back door to the temple of Thor. Once inside they were aided by Firuk Blackore in the form of several potions, and the addition of Minrah to the party. They set out into the tunnels, only to be surrounded by a large group of "Durkon"'s vampire spawn. Roy ordered the group to close their eyes to defend against Domination, and received a Mind Blank from V. In the ensuing melee, Roy destroyed at least three vampires, including Sandstone. Roy did not recognize Hilgya Firehelm when she reappeared in Firmament. In the melee with "Durkon" and his spawn in the banquet hall, Roy used his sword's recall power to good effect by repeatedly throwing the weapon at "Durkon" and other vampire and them immediately recalling it to his hand. Due to the vampires subsequently dominating Belkar, Elan, Haley, and Hilgya, Roy is eventually defeated despite activating his sword's powers. Upon Durkon's second resurrection, Roy welcomes him back along with the rest of the Order. Council of Clans As non-dwarf Roy not interfere in vote and so fought with nightcrawler outside the Council of clans. Current Activities As the Mechane reached the North Pole and Roy was planning his attack on Xykon, he was contacted by his sister Julia via a modified Sending spell. Relationships Personality and Traits Roy frequently finds himself to be highly frustrated at the various character flaws displayed by his teammates, leading him to berate them countless times, justified or not. Despite this, Roy has become an effective leader and has proven to be the only one capable of turning his otherwise directionless co-workers into a force to be reckoned with. In an angry tirade, Belkar admits that the Order of the Stick was absolutely useless while Roy was temporarily dead.Comic 881, "Temporary Weakness" Haley, Elan and Durkon also look up to Roy and recognize his leadership skills. When he was brought back from the dead, his assigned bureaucratic Deva advised Roy to be more patient with his friends. Despite having the ability to become a competent Cleric or Paladin due to his stats, he chose the path of a Fighter as he felt that he could serve the cause of Lawful Good better without having to be a servant of the gods - who in Roy's view do little to actually help the people who believe in them. He still respects the northern gods but not to the extent of devoting himself to them as a Paladin or a Cleric. When Roy briefly died and went to Lawful Good Heaven, his life was evaluated by a Bureaucratic Deva. According to her assessment, Roy does embody the values a Lawful Good person should follow: he fights Evil with no expectation of compensation and values responsibility and loyalty. However, Roy often employs Chaotic methods in order accomplish his goals. Though the Bureaucratic Deva then notes that he does try to be Lawful Good. Roy was ultimately allowed to enter Lawful Good Heaven (unlike his father, who cannot enter until the Blood Oath is finished) because he actually attempted to finish his father's Blood Oath, while Eugene made the conscious choice to abandon his Oath and leave his duty to his son. Roy, although highly intelligent, does have a tendency towards over-thinking things on occasion. On his second visit to the Oracle of Sunken Valley, Roy tries to outwit the Oracle in order to avoid an ambiguous and useless response by posing his question about Xykon's future whereabouts so precisely that he managed to eliminate Xykon's next planned target (Azure City, Soon's Gate) as a possibility. Roy does realize his error shortly thereafter, but the magic of the Valley causes him to forget this subsequent realization. In addition, he has a tendency to become attracted to beautiful women to the point where his judgment could become somewhat clouded, though female antagonists such as Sabine or those whose personality he finds repulsive, Miko the Paladin for example, are exceptions, though Roy was attracted to her for a time. Generally speaking Roy gets on reasonably well with his teammates. He is undoubtedly closest to Durkon, due to their shared history. He respects Vaarsuvius intellectually. Initially, he found the others to be an occasional liability, giving serious consideration to simply leaving Elan behind when the bard was kidnapped by a group of bandits. He realized, however, that these thoughts were unworthy of him and ultimately went to Elan's rescue. After that incident, Roy showed great loyalty to all his teammates, standing up for even the near-psychotic Belkar when the halfling was in trouble and even taking three arrows meant for Elan. Even in the early history of the Order, before most of them barely had time to have a relationship and Roy was looking at his teammates dominant personalites, Roy did have valid concerns about his adventuring colleagues - for example, he tends to regard Elan, Haley and Belkar as unsuitable for standing guard while the party sleeps, being too stupid, too greedy and too psychotic respectively. As Durkon and Vaarsuvius are both spellcasters and thus need sleep in order to regain their spells, Roy often finds himself remaining awake all night, which leads to a distinct degree of irritation. Powers and Abilities a armored Fighter.]]Roy is one of the most powerful members of the Order, with his greatest stat being Strength. While Vaarsuvius outshines him in Intelligence, Durkon outshines him in Wisdom and Elan outshines him on Charisma, Roy is well balanced in the three stats, with decent to high scores. Roy directly serves as a counter-stereotype to the "dumb fighter" cliche. * Fighter Training: Having attended to Fighter College, Roy has proven to be one of the best Fighters in the series. He is willing to resort to underhanded tactics in order to win a fight. ** Master Swordsman: Roy's greatest talent is without a doubt his abilities with the sword. During combat, Roy often fights several enemies at once, using Great Cleave. Roy has demonstrated his swordmanship several times, such as being able to outfight Miko Miyazaki (who had previously bested the Order several times) when it came to swordsmanship alone when Miko became a fallen paladin. *** Spellsplinter Maneuver: In the afterlife, Roy's grandfather taught him a new fighting technique, the Spellsplinter Maneuver, that allows him to interrupt spellcasting. Roy used this feat successfully against Miron Shewdanker, against Xykon (though Xykon was later revealed to be a phantasm), and against the vampire "Durkon". ** High Strength: Roy has a naturally high Strength stat, to the point he can carry Durkon. His Strength stat is also boosted by his Belt of Giant Strength. ** High Durability: Roy's fighter training gives him a lot of hit points. He survived being hit by Thog, who has superhuman strength, and is capable of fighting Tarquin's army even while being continuously hit by crossbow bolts. Vaarsuvius believed him to be immune to a Symbol of Death spell, which implies that he had at least 150 hit points at that time.Comic #1109, "Spy Bowl" ** High Reflexes: Roy has demonstrated possessing high reflexes when he immediately dodged a warlock's spell that was aimed at him at point-blank range with barely no noticeable warnings whatsoever.Comic 730, "Brunchroom Brawl" by a Illithid.]] * High Intelligence: For a Fighter, Roy is unusually smart. Roy is the second smartest member of the Order of the Stick, after Vaarsuvius. When the party encountered an illithid, it regarded Roy as the most appetizing individual present (to the illithid's eyes, Roy's brain was the equivalent of roast turkey and all the trimmings, while Vaarsuvius' brain was viewed on par with a deluxe cheeseburger). According to the Bureaucratic Deva, Roy could have been a Wizard or a Cleric. The illithid's and the deva's statements both imply that Roy has a high combination of Intelligence and Wisdom (and possibly Charisma). * Master Strategist: As a graduate of Fighter College, Roy has an MBA (Master of Battle Administration). Being party leader, Roy organizes most of the Order's fighting capabilities. An great example happens in a fight against Tarquin's army after the destruction of Girard's Gate. Although they are outnumbered by hundreds, Roy properly administrates the Order's defense so that they can survive as long as possible. ** Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) Ranks: Roy has cross-class skill ranks for Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering). The most notable use of them is when he defeated Thog in the Bloodstone Correctional Facility by using his own body to destroy pillars that causes the ceiling to collapse on Thog. Equipment and Weapons *'Magical Armor': Little has been said of Roy's armor, but it was affected by Vaarsuvius' Arcane Sight spell in #693. *'Greenhilt Sword': Roy's signature weapon, an ancestral sword wielded by his grandfather and which his family is named after. After being reforged with star metal, it has become a +5 Greatsword with the ability to occasionally spontaneously glow green, causing it to do more damage to Undead and Outsiders. After the Godsmoot, Wrecan revealed it to be a Weapon of Legacy, with additional powers which can be unlocked. Roy has unlocked two additional powers: it capable of giving him a "power up", which heals him and grants additional damage, and it can be recalled to his hand if he loses it. *'Belt of Giant Strength': A magic belt that increases Roy's already impressive Strength stat. It is powerful enough to let Mr. Scruffy knock out Sir Scraggly. Received in the Western Continent from people he freed from slavers. *'Bag of Tricks': A magic bag that allows Roy to produce small animals like badgers, squirrels, mice, cats, etc. Once somehow released a Rhino. *'Shillelagh Oil': A potion which turns any club into a magical club. *'Potion of Delay Poison': A potion with delays, not negates, the onset of a poison. *'Potions of Cure Serious Wounds, Remove Paralysis, and Magical Vestment': Given to him by Firuk Blackore before entering the Firmament tunnels.Comic #1099, "Cool Will Be the Biggest Obstacle" *'Runestone': Roy was given a magical Runestone by the High Priestess of Thor. The stone allows him to enter the Temple of Thor in Firmament from the outside through a secret side gate. It can only be given freely by the priests of Thor, so it is also evidence to the priests there that he is an ally. *'Club': After the swords destruction by Xykon in the Dungeon of Dorukan, Roy uses the club as a temporary replacement. It's shown to be rather durable, as it is able to hold against Miko's blades and a head-on Fireball spell.Comic 200, "The Confrontation" It is presumably magical due to Roy possessing a potion of Shillelagh Oil. However, Roy once claimed that it was non-magical.Comic 408, "Fallsville, Population: 1" *'Weapon of Legacy Book': Received by Wrecan, the book tells about the history of past Weapons of Legacy. Roy has been practicing the proper rituals and exercises from the book to try to unlock additional abilities in the Greenhilt Sword. *'Xykon's Spell List': Given to him by O-Chul, who had been captured by Team Evil and tortured for a time, it lists most but if all Xykon's spells, magic items, a partial list of feats, and some information on Redcloak and Tsukiko. Roy has been using it to strategise. *'Manual of Gainful Exercise': Roy had this magic item in Snips, Snails & Dragon Tales. * Roy also has in his possession: pink bunny slippers, a hammer, a newspaper, a formal suit, a pair of non-magical boots from Fighter College, a book, and a sextant. The Order of the Stick Adventure Game Roy Greenhilt is one of the characters players may choose when playing the Order of the Stick Adventure Game. The abilities of the character are reflective of his personality and skills as depicted in the comic, with cards titled such things as Greenhilt Sword, Bag of Tricks, and Logic. Trivia * Roy has notably been left in a questionable state by two opponents quoting "STOP TALKING". ** Miko Miyazaki kicked Roy in the head, stunning him temporarily in #408 "Fallsville, Population: 1". ** Thog slams a giant piece of the arena masonry onto Roy in #796 "Smash". * In No Cure For The Paladin Blues, Roy is mistaken for someone else twice. When Miko Miyazaki interrogates a blacksmith on the Order Of The Stick's whereabouts, he believes that she is referring to the Linear Guild and explains how he was left at the mercy of Thog. He is later mistaken for royalty and is the target of an assassination attempt. * Roy refers to his genitals as the "Trouser Titan".Comic 234, "The Ultimate Sacrifice" Gallery File:Royg.png|Roy Greenhilt Roy Greenhilt New.png|Roy's first appearance in the new style. Old Roy.PNG|Roy's old attire drawn in the new style. Winter Roy.PNG|Roy in winter attire. Female Roy.PNG|Roy using the Girdle of Feminity/Masculinity without a dress or a wig. Child Roy.PNG|Roy is taught about his grandfathers adventures at a young age. Roelle.png|Female Roy with a mop used as a wig. Roydead.png|Roy's rotting, stinking corpse. Resurrection.png|Full-Frontal Roy post-resurrection. References Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Living Characters Category:Lawful Good Characters Category:Lawful Characters Category:Good Characters Category:Males Category:Fighters Category:Order of the Stick Category:Greenhilts